Pages

Sunday, August 11, 2013

All Natural Style Secrets: DIY Oil Cleanse (+ bonus face mask)

I do my best to to eliminate toxic and unnecessary chemicals from my life. So I'm always looking out for natural beauty solutions. That's why the oil cleansing method appealed to me so much. Currently a lot of big name brands--Bobbi Brown, Josie Maran, Shu Uemura--have nicely-packaged cleansing oils bottled for you. But I've been using this method for a few months and it couldn't be easier (or cheaper) to recreate your own cleansing oil at home.

By now you've probably figured out that the oil cleansing is washing your face with (duh!) oil! This contradicts everything we've been taught--the beauty industry has certainly told us that oil-free is the way to go. As someone who gets shiny by mid-morning, I'll admit that putting oil on my face took some convincing. The problem is that when we strip our face of it's natural oils, it overcompensates by producing more oil to make it up for it. Oil will break down oil so this method essentially breaks down the "bad" oils without stripping your skin.

Whatever your skin type, you'll love this easy method to cleanse your skin. Not only will your complexion approve but it's the perfect make-up remover, effectively breaking down mascara, eyeliner, everything! It's best to do this at night right before bed.

The quality of the ingredients will greatly effect your results. Please, please, please only use good quality 100% natural ingredients or else you could do more harm than good. The brand of castor oil I use is pure, cold pressed and hexane free. Castor oil draws out the impurities and acts as an antibacterial, but it can be harsh on the skin. To keep a balance, we add other oils to dilute it. You can use olive oil, almond oil, jojoba oil or avocado oil. I like to add Seventh Generation's Boosts in "Soothing" to sneak in a little extra treatment--it's chock full of skin boosting ingredients.

Depending on your skin type, you can adjust the quantities to suit you--if your skin is dry, use less castor oil and more moisturizing oil or if you have very oily skin, you can afford to use more castor oil to combat that. As long as what you're using is good quality, you can try out different things to see what works best for you.

Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp Castor Oil (pure, cold pressed and hexane free)

-1tbsp pure avocado oil

-1-2 pumps of Seventh Generation Boosts

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl. I like to do small batches so it's more hygienic in the long run (don't want to dip your fingers in to the same pot too many times).

2. Apply liberally and take your time massaging it thoroughly into the skin. Remember, this dissolves ALL your make-up. If you have eye make-up on, rub a small amount on your lids. You'll have a gooey mess at this point, but we'll fix that soon.

3. Grab a washcloth and run it under warm/hot water. We're going to use the heat of that to steam the skin to help remove the impurities. Just place it over your face for 5 mins. After that, use the washcloth to wipe away all the oil that's left. And that's it! Go to bed and wake up to a glowing complexion.

But wait! That's not all I have for you today. For an extra special treat, try this DIY avocado face mask. Avocado is a good source of biotin, so it prevents the skin from drying. The honey is a mild alpha hydroxy acid so it works as a natural exfoliant. To amp it up, I again added my Seventh Generation Boosts for its extra skincare benefits.

Click through the slideshow to learn how you can get healthy, glowing skin using only kitchen ingredients!

Have you tried the oil cleansing method yet? What oils work best for you?

Disclaimer: I received a free sample of this product from Lucky and Seventh Generation for use in connection with this blog. I am not being compensated for the post and all opinions expressed are my own.